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This is the first posting I have put here on my blog since 2013. I will try to keep this first posting in four years to a minimum as I really don’t have a lot to say. I am sure this blog entry for my millions and millions of followers (COUGH COUGH *four* COUGH) is a surprise to all, however, I am betting you have plenty of things to do in your busy lives.

Let’s get to the matter(s) at hand for me right now.

When I first started this blog thing, I was forced to create it in a class for college. I didn’t want to start a blog. I always thought a blog was for nerds, and actually I still kind of do. Now, here comes the big “BUUUUUUUTT” part (HAHA, see what I did there? BUTT? A joke is always funnier when you point out the funny spot and try to explain it.) I am starting to see why a blog is very important, especially for things I want to do.

I want to start up freelance writing. I have had my Technical Communication/Writing (I always do the Communication/Writing thing because I never really see the “Communication” part anywhere except on my degree; it seems that the first word is always followed by “Writing”) degree since May of 2015 and I have yet to use it once.

There just doesn’t seem to be work for that type of thing where I am located here in St. Joseph, MO. Sure, I am told all the time, “Move here, there’s all kinds of work here for Technical Writers.” I don’t really want to move though.

I see no reason why I couldn’t do freelance work from home for companies and write up, work on, or create white papers, grant proposals, WordPress pages, training materials and videos, flyers, copywriting, graphic design and the such. (Yeah, I’m one of those who like using the Oxford comma.) Now, do I actually have experience with any of this? Yes and no. You pay to go to college and you really only learn the very basics of all these things. For the most part, all that money I am in debt for now… I could have stayed at home and watched YouTube videos and read books. However, that’s a whole other story and I am kind of getting off track. OH LOOK! A SQUIRELL!! AND HE’S WEARONG SOMETHING SHINY!!!

In order for me to do this freelancing thing, supposedly, I have to have a website or blog going. I have read on several websites that starting a blog or a website is the first and most important thing you can do as a freelance writer. As much as I don’t really want to (HEAVY SIGH) blooooog, I can see the importance of it. How else are you going to make a web presence or have a portfolio for potential clients to look at?

How do I create a portfolio with no clients and no experience yet? Well, I have heard from a few people who have a prominent (important and/or famous according to google) presence on the internet and they have given me a little advice. Yeah, I’m getting ready to do a little name dropping to make me seem way more relevant in the world.

Now, I have just learned about these people over the last few months and they all seem to be connected in one way or another. Something cool about each of these people I am about to mention is that they will actually take time out of their day to reply to a message or question that you send them. I don’t really know if they will keep responding if you become a creeper who sends them messages every day, but each of them have responded to a question or two that I have sent. I just learned about John Espirian, from http://espirian.co.uk/, yesterday and he has already gotten back to me.

As I asked earlier, how do I create a portfolio with no clients and no experience yet? What do I write about in my blogs? According to Mr. Espirian in his response to me, “You could write about anything at this stage – just show you can fit a document together well.”

That reply from Mr. Espirian really is an inspiration and a kick in the butt motivation to get started, maybe even why I am writing this today. I haven’t had a lot of time to look at all of his advice on his page, but he does offer a lot of helpful advice at first glance.

How did I learn of Mr. Espirian? I was connected to him through Jorden Roper from https://www.writingrevolt.com/. She actually sent me an email saying something like, “Hey, go talk to this guy.” This girl here, she has a website that will inspire. She honestly tells it like it is and speaks like a regular person you would meet at a gas station would speak.

As awesome as this girl is, her advice kind of goes the opposite way of Mr. Espirian. Jorden (for some reason it seems odd, to me, to say Mrs. Roper… that sounds like an old lady librarian or something) says that you need to pick one certain niche and write about that. There lies my problem. I don’t exactly have a niche in mind. I don’t exactly have one fascination or interest in life except video games. The world seems so flooded with video game reviewers right now that I would just be wasting my time. Do I do white papers, grants, or something else? I don’t know, again, I don’t really have any experience. Good thing I got that college degree, eh? That’s doing me a whole hecka lotta good. Jorden sends you lessons through email and one of them is supposed to help you pick out a niche, but I haven’t exactly gotten to read it yet. All of the research and reading I have done for this freelance thing is overwhelming. I can put anywhere from four to eight hours a day into researching and I feel like I am only slightly closer to achieving my goal from when I started almost two months ago.

How did I find out about Jorden Roper? I learned of her a few months back from a guy named Bamidele Onibalusi from https://www.writersincharge.com/blog/. I found this website a few months ago and this is where I found my original inspiration to start freelance writing. At this website you can sign up to have something like a list of a hundred or so companies that will pay you to write for them. I can’t really remember why, because this was back in February and March, but that list I was sent didn’t really seem to work. Plus, when I emailed this guy I felt it was a robot that sent me a reply back. I’m not trash talking the guy or his website, after all this is the first place I found that gave me inspiration to start researching freelance writing. I would highly recommend at least checking it out.

I feel like I already wrote this part, but I have read and reread this post and I don’t see it yet. Maybe I just thought about writing it. Anyway, I should have emailed each of the people I just mentioned and asked for advertising money to get the word out to my millions and millions of followers.

I am not here to review these websites… yet. I already said it is easy to get overwhelmed reading all the blogs, all the automatic lessons you get sent, watching YouTube videos, and reading books. I am embarrassed to say that I have been doing research for two, almost three, and maybe even four months now without getting off my tuffet to do something, but I honestly didn’t know where to start. I really still don’t know where to start, but I am making an effort as of today.

Sadly, I only have all day access to the internet for another three days. After those three days, it’s going to be questionable when I will get to play on the interwebs. I have a lot of other ideas for blogs later. 1) If I get a client overseas, how do I get paid? 2) An in depth review of the websites I mentioned and how much help I actually got from the people at those websites, which I should have asked them for some money to advertise their websites on my page here for my millions and millions of followers. 3) How am I doing at finding a niche? 4) Telling of difficulties and/or successes in my search for a client. 5) Umm… I got nothing. I guess I have my work cut out for me.